English Cset: Sumerian And Hebrew Literature

Front 1

Major Works of Sumerian and Hebrew Literature

Back 1

"The Epic of Gilgamesh"
"Genesis"
"Psalms"

Front 2

Sumerians

Back 2

The people who established the world's first civilization around 3500 B.C. in southern Mesopotamia.

Front 3

Tigris and Euphrates

Back 3

The Tigris and Euphrates rivers begin in eastern Turkey, flow in a southeast direction, converge in southeast Iraq, and empty in the Persian Gulf. In ancient times, the land between the twin rivers was called Mesopotamia.

Front 4

Mesopotamia

Back 4

"The land between the rivers" (the Tigris and the Euphrates)
The site of the world's first civilization
The "cradle of civilization"

Front 5

Sumer

Back 5

The world's first civilization.

Front 6

Sumerian City-State

Back 6

The city, the surrounding mud brick wall, and the surrounding farmland. Sumerians organized themselves into competing city-states. At the center was the temple and, radiating out from the center, people lived in descending order of class.

Front 7

Ziggurat

Back 7

The temple at the center of a Sumerian city-state, which housed the city-state's patron god. "Mountain of god" or "hill of heaven." A sacred place that only priests could enter.

Front 8

Cuneiform

Back 8

The world's first writing system. Means "wedge-shaped." Written with a stylus, a wedge-shaped instrument made out of reed, on a wet clay tablet.

Front 9

Gilgamesh

Back 9

One of ancient Mesopotamia's most legendary historical figures. A heroic priest-king from the Sumerian city-state of Uruk.